audioXpress Magazine February 2023

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audioXpress Magazine February 2023

audioXpress remains the authority on audio and reproduced sound by connecting manufacturers and distributors with developers, buyers and consultants around the globe! It's readers are the audio product designers, consultants, integrators, DIY enthusiasts, opinion leaders and your best customers. All of them agree that the coverage of trending topics, unique in the audio industry, make audioXpress a must read.

Every month, audioXpress combines the best educational articles on topic such audio electronics, speaker and headphone design, amplifiers (from tube to Class D), acoustics, practical test and measurement, audio engineering praxis, and standards. audioXpress provides inside stories on new audio developments, on R&D Stories, the most complete objective reviews of innovative products and software, and selects some of the best DIY audio projects from worldwide experts.

4 From The Editor's Desk
Where Do We Want To Go Next?
Using ChatGPT to mention audio enhancement applications.
Editorial By J. Martins
Among the biggest technology stories of 2022, it's impossible not to reference OpenAI. This artificial intelligence (AI) research company from San Francisco, CA, founded in December 2015, has focused on artificial general intelligence (AGI) applied to augmenting and outperform human skills. OpenAI cleverly made its efforts accessible to the general public as a way to simultaneously promote AI and improve it with actual human interaction — which in turn helps to reveal boundaries and usage restriction needs. Among OpenAI's most interesting efforts is a trained model for human interaction through text input called ChatGPT. Its proven uses span from helping us to debug code to answering questions, to writing essays about any topic and in any given suggested style.
---> Where Do We Want To Go Next?

5 Supporting Companies

Features
8 Arylic Audio Up2Stream Amp V4
By Stuart Yaniger
The Up2Stream Amp stereo streaming amplifier
board from Arylic is a complete, affordable solution
that invites integration by DIY'ers and integrators for
multi-room and wireless audio setups. audioXpress
explores how it measures up and shares the
experience.

34 On the Subject of Standards
Filling in the Gaps Left by AES67
By Ekin Binal
Is the AES67 interoperability standard a viable
alternative as the core solution for audio-over-IP
distribution? Crestron proved that it is with its
DM NAX technology filling the existing gaps of
network discovery and routing.

42 Modern PC Board Design Practices
Part 1 — An Overview of the Process
By Ethan Winer
In this two-part series, Ethan Winer examines
current practices and methods for designing four-layer
printed circuit boards using surface-mounted
components. Part 1 presents an overview of the
process, while Part 2 will explain specific strategies.
Many related issues will be described along the way.

48 Power Transformer Parameters, Selection, And Testing
Part 4 — Parameters and Their Losses
By Chuck Hansen
The initial group of articles focused on the history of
transformer cores, their construction methods, their
materials, and various testing methods. Part 4 of this
series discusses the parameters of transformers and
their losses.

54 The Pre-5: A High-Performance Tube Hybrid Preamp
By James Skov
In a never-ending search to improve the performance
of tube-based audio circuits, this project, which the
author calls the Pre-5, proposes pushing the envelope
to achieve even lower distortion from an already
great-sounding concept.

Microphones And Voice Pickup Sensors Update
16 What Do You Want to Hear?
By Mike Klasco and J. Martins
The latest developments and new technologies in MEMS
microphones promise to rival the performance of
electro-dynamic and electret condenser microphones.
Now, voice pickup sensors, DSP integration, and
edge AI promise to take voice capture to uncharted territory.

28 Unified Coverage Map
A Radically Better Technology for Today's Hybrid Environments
By Erica Yorga
This article discusses a new patent-pending feature of
Nureva's next-generation technology for audio presentations
and conferencing that provides a new perspective on
how microphone coverage works in large meeting rooms.

Columns: Sound Control
38 Suitability Of Venues For Various Events
By Richard Honeycutt
Understanding the optimal reverberation time vs. frequency
performance of a venue, particularly one used mainly for
amplified music, is important for acoustical consultants and
architects. Recent research has provided valuable design
guidelines for such venues.